[VIDEO] Barroso: Romania has shaken EU trust

José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, has expressed worries about the political infighting in Romania. The EU Executive has used unprecedented language in its report on Romania’s progress under the monitoring mechanism of judicial reform and fight against corruption, published on Wednesday (18 July)

Research and development can open the EU to new ideas and technologies that can help us manage cheaper energy costs, cheaper industry costs, and a cleaner and safer environment for all the EU. If anything we have to increase funding in R&D, not cut it, says Victor Negrescu.

The Commission unveiled yesterday (8 February) its latest reports on the progress of Romania and Bulgaria in stepping up law enforcement and the fight against corruption. The EU executive also called on civil society to help accelerate reforms in the two countries.

Romania’s Senate has overwhelming rejected a motion to ban shale gas exploration and exploitation by hydraulic fracturing, marking an about-face for Prime Minister Victor Ponta’s Social Democrat party (PSD) that introduced the draft law in March.

Romania's Constitutional Court ruled today (21 August) that the referendum held last month to remove President Traian Băsescu is invalid because turnout fell short of the required 50% threshold. Veteran politician Băsescu is now cleared to return in office, risking further confrontation with Prime Minister Victor Ponta’s government.

Two German conservative MEPs on Wednesday (10 April) accused Romania’s Socialist government of hindering Bulgaria and Romania’s entry into the Schengen area, contradicting Berlin’s statements that the two nations were weak on justice and corruption.

Arctic temperatures and heavy snowfall that have claimed hundreds of lives around Central and Eastern Europe have also exposed the severe stress placed on often dilapidated infrastructure in hard-hit Romania and in neighbouring Bulgaria.

Prime Minister Victor Ponta’s leftist USL coalition set a Friday vote on whether to suspend President Traian Băsescu as a first step towards possible impeachment, a move that the opposition denounced as a “coup d’état”. EurActiv Romania contributed to this article.

French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault says his country will request “in the following days” holding a European Council meeting to make decisions “at the European level” on the Roma - many of them from Romania and Bulgaria - who settle in illegal camps in France and other countries.

Romania's president appointed six chief prosecutors and deputies yesterday (15 May) who had been hand-picked by the prime minister, defying the European Union, which had called for a transparent application process.